1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a body fat measurement device and a body fat measurement result providing method. More particularly, one or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a body fat measurement device and a body fat measurement result providing method that can effectively manage a user's body fat and body shape by encouraging the user to control his diet. A user's local body fat is compared, for each of at least one body part, with a particular person's local body fat, the particular person being selected by the user as someone whom the user wants to appear similar to, and the comparison result is provided to the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, a greater proportion of people are obese or overweight, due to advancements in standard of living and lack of exercise. Being obese or overweight may lead to many adult diseases, and may also result in many types of discrimination. Accordingly, an increasing number of people are interested in dieting and in the treatment and prevention of obesity or being overweight, thereby rapidly expanding the scale of obesity-related industries. One of the main ways to measure a degree of obesity or being overweight is to measure the amount of a fat in a human body. Any person may recognize his or her relative degree of obesity by measuring body fat thickness, and may accordingly treat a measured level of obesity by going on a diet.
With the current fitness trend, a portable body fat measurement device has been developed and is currently used by a number of people. Such people may be able to measure their body fat at any time and place using a portable body fat measurement device, without seeing a doctor or going to a weight-loss clinic. Also, the portable body fat measurement device is mainly installed in mobile devices such as mobile phones; so people may conveniently and portably use the portable body fat measurement device.
One of the important purposes for measuring body fat is to encourage users to control their diet, exercise, and keep themselves in good shape by being aware of their body fat. However, in a conventional body fat measurement device, it is not easy for a user to determine whether a quantity of their body fat is normal since body fat measurement results are provided to users as only a numerical value.
Also, in the conventional body fat measurement device, the user is provided with the body fat measurement result by comparing a body fat of the user with a reference body fat value. Namely, the body fat measurement result is provided to the user by comparing the body fat of the user, for each body part, with reference values, which are predetermined depending on age, race, and gender. The reference values are generally acquired by making body fat measurements of a large number of people, and classifying the people according to their age, race, and gender. To collect such reference values, it is necessary to measure the body fat of the large number of people, acquire data from the measured body fat, and establish a range for each reference value in order to ensure a credible reference database, since body fat ratio, body fat thickness, and body shape differ depending on age, race, and gender. Thus, in the conventional body fat measurement device, it takes a great amount of time and cost to build a credible database. In addition, it is not simple to determine whether a person is normal or obese based on body fat data collected from a variety of people.
Also, in modern society, people have their own points of view and strive for individuality, rather than standardized points of view. Thus, not everyone wants a standardized body shape following a standardized database, even when the standardized database is built to vary with age, race, and gender. Particularly, teenage girls have their own opinions regarding body shape, and each teenage girl has a different reference value with respect to each of their body parts. As an example, a single teenage girl might want Angelina Jolie's bust for her bust shape, Beyonce's thighs for her thigh shape, and Cameron Diaz's legs for her leg shape. Accordingly, a standardized database is meaningless for teenage girls.
With the foregoing trends, a body fat measurement device that can effectively manage a user's body shape by motivating the user to control his or her diet and to steadily exercise, has been determined as desirable by the inventors of the present invention.